Down the Frozen River

Tag: Jaroslav Halak

Rangers top Bruins, 5-4, in New York’s season finale

A flurry of offense in the third period spurred the New York Rangers to a close, 5-4, win over the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on Saturday afternoon.

Keith Kinkaid (3-2-1, 2.59 goals-against average, .898 save percentage in nine games played) made 28 saves on 30 shots faced prior to being replaced by Igor Shesterkin (16-14-3, 2.62 goals-against average, .916 save percentage in 35 games played) for the win due to an injury in the third period.

Shesterkin made seven saves on nine shots in relief of Kinkaid in a little over eleven minutes of action on Saturday.

Boston netminder, Tuukka Rask (14-5-2, 2.29 goals-against average, .914 save percentage in 23 games played) made 18 saves on 23 shots against in the loss.

The Bruins fell to 32-15-7 (71 points) on the season, but remain in command of 3rd place in the MassMutual NHL East Division standings, while the Rangers finished their 2020-21 season with a 27-23-6 record, 60 points and 5th place in the same division.

The B’s finished their regular season series against New York with a 5-3-0 record in their eight matchups.

The Bruins were without Ondrej Kase (upper body), John Moore (hip) and Charlie Coyle (upper body) on Saturday, though Kase returned to practice with the rest of the team on Friday and Coyle remains “day-to-day” according to head coach, Bruce Cassidy.

Cassidy also mentioned that the B’s are taking it “one step at a time” regarding Kase’s return to the lineup in the remaining pair of games in the regular season.

Cassidy kept his forward lines from Thursday intact, while technically jumbling the defensive pairings from puck drop Thursday to puck drop Saturday despite actually putting them together during Thursday night’s, 4-0, shutout win against New York.

As such, Matt Grzelcyk was paired with Charlie McAvoy from the start of the action on the first pairing, while Mike Reilly was partnered with Brandon Carlo and Jeremy Lauzon suited up with Kevan Miller.

Jeremy Swayman served as Rask’s backup on Saturday in what was expected to be Rask’s final start before the postseason, while Jaroslav Halak was given the afternoon off in the press box.

Halak joined Coyle, Chris Wagner, Greg McKegg, Moore, Kase, Steven Kampfer, Jakub Zboril, Callum Booth, Anton Blidh and Jarred Tinordi on Boston’s long list of healthy scratches, taxi squad members and injured players on Saturday.

On Monday, TD Garden will increase their limited seating capacity from 12% to 25% in accordance with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ COVID-19 reopening plans– just in time for the final home game of the regular season, as well as the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Grzelcyk cut a rut to the penalty box for holding and presented the Rangers with the first power play of the afternoon at 11:54 of the first period.

New York failed to convert on the power play, however.

Late in the period, Morgan Barron caught Taylor Hall with an errant knee– bringing the Bruins winger down with a trip and earning a minor infraction in the process at 19:32.

Boston’s power play spilled over into the middle frame, however, as the B’s couldn’t get anything going on the skater advantage as the horn signaled the start of the first intermission.

After 20 minutes of action on Saturday afternoon, the two clubs were even on the scoreboard, 0-0, despite Boston leading in shots on goal, 9-7.

The Rangers dominated in blocked shots (10-1), giveaways (10-2) and hits (9-5), while the Bruins led in takeaways (8-5) and faceoff win percentage (53-47).

Both teams were 0/1 in the power play after the first period.

K’Andre Miller (5) floated a shot past Rask with lots of traffic screening the Bruins netminder in the slot to give the Rangers a, 1-0, lead at 6:21 of the second period off an attacking zone faceoff after Boston iced the puck.

Justin Richards (1) and Filip Chytil (14) tallied the assists on Miller’s goal.

With the primary assist on the goal, Richards picked up his first career National Hockey League point in his NHL debut after amassing 4-7–11 totals in 20 games with the Hartford Wolf Pack (AHL) this season in his first professional season after spending three years (2017-20) at University Minnesota-Duluth.

Late in the period, Mika Zibanejad hooked David Pastrnak and presented the Bruins with their second power play of the game at 14:04.

Once more, however, Boston was unsuccessful on the skater advantage.

In the waning minutes of the second period, the McAvoy mustered a shot towards the goal that rebounded to this season’s NESN 7th Player Award winner, Nick Ritchie (15) for the garbage goal on the doorstep– tying the game, 1-1, in the process.

McAvoy (24) and Sean Kuraly (6) had the assists on Ritchie’s career-high 15th goal of the season at 18:12 of the second period.

Through two periods of play, the Bruins and Rangers were tied, 1-1, on the scoreboard, despite Boston holding an advantage in shots on goal, 28-15, including a, 19-5, advantage in the second period alone.

New York led in blocked shots (17-2) and giveaways (10-5), while Boston led in faceoff win% (54-46).

The two squads had 11 takeaways and 14 hits each, while the Rangers were 0/1 and the Bruins were 0/2 on the power play heading into the final frame.

Pastrnak (20) kicked off the third period with a one-timed redirection goal 21 seconds into the final frame for his 200th career NHL goal– giving the B’s their first lead of the night, 2-1.

Brad Marchand (39) had the only assist on Pastrnak’s goal as No. 88 in black and gold became the fastest player in franchise history to reach the 200-goal plateau in 437 career games (all with Boston)– beating Bobby Orr’s previous mark of 200 goals in 502 games with the club.

About five minutes later, however, Zibanejad (23) answered back with a one-timer goal of his own while the Rangers dominated possession in the attacking zone.

Pavel Buchnevich (26) and Ryan Strome (34) had the assists on Zibanejad’s first goal of the afternoon as New York tied the game, 2-2, at 5:22 of the third period.

A little over two minutes later, Alexis Lafrenière (12) caught a pass, deked and released a backhand shot over Rask’s glove side to put the Rangers ahead, 3-2, on the scoreboard.

Anthony Bitetto (3) and Buchnevich (27) recorded the assists as the Blueshirts scored a pair of goals in a 2:04 span at 7:25 of the third period.

Shortly thereafter, Pastrnak sent a shot wide of the net on a breakaway as Kinkaid challenged the Boston forward and appeared to overextend something as the Rangers goaltender left the game with what looked like a lower body injury.

Shesterkin came in to replace Kinkaid and finished off the game, as well as the rest of the regular season as New York’s goaltender.

Almost midway into the third period, Vitali Kravtsov (2) gave the Rangers a two-goal lead with another one-timer off of an attacking zone faceoff after Lafrenière and Buchnevich generated momentum for New York having just blown past Boston defenders, McAvoy and Grzelcyk prior to the whistle.

Strome (35) and Zac Jones (4) had the assists on Kravtsov’s goal and the Rangers led, 4-2, at 9:36.

The only penalty in the third period occurred when Bitetto got a hold on Hall at 13:17, yielding another power play to the Bruins.

Boston’s power play made decent work of the ensuing skater advantage as Marchand batted a puck out of mid-air to keep the rubber biscuit in the offensive zone before a give-and-go with David Krejci, which led to Marchand (28) sliding the puck under Shesterkin’s pad on a backhand goal.

Krejci (33) had the only assist on Marchand’s power-play goal and the Bruins trailed, 4-3, at 14:08.

Once again, however, Zibanejad (24) answered with his 200th career goal– sniping the puck over Rask’s glove on a catch and release shot to put the Rangers ahead by two-goals once more.

Buchnevich (28) tallied his third assist of the afternoon on Zibanejad’s second goal as New York pulled ahead, 5-3, at 18:07.

With time ticking down, Cassidy pulled his goaltender for an extra attacker with about 1:31 remaining in regulation before Patrice Bergeron (23) redirected a shot pass from the bumper in his usual spot to pull Boston to within one.

Grzelcyk (15) and McAvoy (25) had the assists on Bergeron’s goal and the Bruins trailed, 5-4, at 18:39.

Rask vacated the crease once more with about 1:15 left in the action, but this time the B’s couldn’t muster another goal with the netminder pulled.

At the final horn the Rangers had won, 5-4, and sealed the deal on the victory in their final game of the pandemic truncated 56-game 2020-21 regular season.

Though Boston finished the afternoon leading in shots on goal, 39-23, both teams had 11 shots apiece in the third period alone.

New York finished Saturday’s effort with the advantage in blocked shots (19-4), giveaways (14-9) and hits (17-16), while the Bruins wrapped up the afternoon leading in faceoff win% (52-48).

The Rangers went 0/1 and the B’s went 1/3 on the power play on Saturday.

The Bruins fell to 8-7-2 (3-4-2 at home) when tied after the first period, 8-10-4 (5-7-1 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal and 5-7-3 (0-2-1 at home) when tied after two periods this season.

Meanwhile, New York finished 5-6-1 (3-2-1 on the road) when tied after one period, 21-7-2 (10-6-1 on the road) when scoring the game’s first goal and 5-5-3 (3-1-1 on the road) when tied after the second period in 2020-21.

The Bruins take on the New York Islanders in their final home game of the regular season on Monday before hitting the road for their last game of the 2020-21 regular season against the Washington Capitals on Tuesday.

May 8, 2021
Swayman leads Bruins to, 4-0, shutout over Rangers

Jeremy Swayman earned his second shutout of the season, as well as of his career in Thursday night’s, 4-0, victory for the Boston Bruins over the New York Rangers at TD Garden.

Swayman (7-2-0, 1.41 goals-against average, .946 save percentage in nine games played) made 15 saves in the shutout win for Boston.

New York goaltender, Igor Shesterkin (15-14-3, 2.57 goals-against average, .917 save percentage in 34 games played) stopped 30 out of 34 shots faced in the loss.

The Bruins improved to 32-14-7 (71 points) on the season and remain in command of 3rd place in the MassMutual NHL East Division, while the Rangers fell to 26-23-6 (58 points) overall and stuck in 5th place in the same division.

The B’s are now 5-2-0 against New York this season with one game remaining in their regular season series on Saturday.

The Bruins were without Ondrej Kase (upper body), John Moore (hip) and Charlie Coyle (upper body) on Thursday. B’s head coach, Bruce Cassidy, informed reporters ahead of the game on Thursday that Coyle is “day-to-day” and would be out of the lineup against New York.

With Coyle out of the lineup, Karson Kuhlman was back in on the fourth line with Trent Frederic at left wing and Curtis Lazar at center.

Jake DeBrusk, meanwhile, was promoted to the third line in place of Coyle with Nick Ritchie at left wing and Sean Kuraly at center.

On defense, Kevan Miller returned after missing Tuesday night’s game as a precaution so as not to re-aggravate any recent injuries and was paired with Mike Reilly on the third pairing, though Cassidy ended up juggling the defensive pairings early on in the action.

Jaroslav Halak served as Swayman’s backup, giving Tuukka Rask another night off though Boston’s No. 1 goaltender will be getting the start on Saturday.

Coyle was joined by Chris Wagner, Greg McKegg, Moore, Kase, Rask, Steven Kampfer, Jakub Zboril, Callum Booth, Anton Blidh and Jarred Tinordi on Boston’s long list of healthy scratches, taxi squad members and injured players on Thursday.

To coincide with their final home game of the regular season and in accordance with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ COVID-19 reopening protocols, TD Garden will increase their limited seating capacity from 12% to 25% beginning with Monday, May 10th’s matchup with the New York Islanders.

Patrice Bergeron (22) kicked off the game’s scoring with a one-timer goal from the bumper over Shesterkin’s blocker to give the Bruins a, 1-0, lead at 7:11 of the first period.

Brad Marchand (37) had the only assist on Bergeron’s goal as Boston jumped out of the gate with fresh legs compared to New York’s exhausted skaters on the second night of back-to-back games.

The Rangers entered TD Garden coming off of a, 4-2, loss to the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night in a physical battle that featured six fights after the National Hockey League’s Department of Player Safety failed to suspend Tom Wilson for his actions in Monday night’s, 6-3, loss to Washington.

Wilson was fined $5,000 for his actions against Pavel Buchnevich, but New York’s owner, James Dolan, thought that wasn’t enough as the Capitals forward received no punishment for his takedown of Rangers star forward, Artemiy Panarin, immediately thereafter.

A statement released by the team in a tweet that alleged “…a dereliction of duty by NHL head of player safety, George Parros…” and went on to exclaim that “[the Rangers] believe he is unfit to continue in his current role,” ended up costing Dolan a $250,000 fine from the league.

Anyway, Libor Hajek caught DeBrusk with a high stick at 7:43 of the first period on Thursday night and presented the Bruins with the game’s first power play.

Boston did not convert on the ensuing skater advantage, but got a second chance at 5-on-4 action when Ryan Strome tripped DeBrusk at 16:44.

This time, however, the B’s capitalized on the power play late in the skater advantage when Charlie McAvoy (5) blasted a shot from the point past Shesterkin on the blocker side.

McAvoy’s power-play goal was assisted by Marchand (38) and David Pastrnak (27) and gave Boston a, 2-0, lead at 18:35 of the first period.

Entering the first intermission, the Bruins led, 2-0, on the scoreboard and, 9-4, in shots on goal.

New York held the advantage in blocked shots (7-2), giveaways (2-0), hits (9-6) and faceoff win percentage (73-37), while both teams amassed four takeaways aside after one period.

The Rangers had yet to see any time on the power play, while the Bruins were 1/2 on the skater advantage heading into the middle frame.

There were no penalties called in the second period, but David Krejci setup DeBrusk (5) for a nifty breakaway goal on an indirect pass off the boards, leading DeBrusk into the attacking zone for the shot off of Shesterkin’s blocker and into the twine.

Krejci (31) and Taylor Hall (23) had the assists as the Bruins extended their lead to three-goals at 14:01 of the second period.

Through 40 minutes of play, Boston led, 3-0, on the scoreboard and, 28-7, in shots on goal– including a, 19-3, advantage in the second period alone.

The B’s also led in takeaways (11-4), while the Rangers led in blocked shots (10-3), giveaways (9-5) and hits (16-9).

Both teams were 50-50 in faceoff win% as New York remained 0/0 and Boston was 1/2 on the power play heading into the final frame.

Brandon Carlo (3) sent an errant puck from the goal line off of Shesterkin’s skate and over the goal line through the Rangers netminder’s five-hole– giving Boston a four-goal lead at 1:07 of the third period.

Krejci (32) had the only assist on Carlo’s goal and the Bruins led, 4-0.

Late in the period, Carlo delivered a swift cross check to Phil Di Giuseppe behind the net in Boston’s own zone and cut a rut to the penalty box at 18:06 of the third period, yielding a power play to New York for the first time of the night in the waning minutes of the action.

The Rangers did not convert on the skater advantage as the clock ticked down to the final horn.

The Bruins secured a, 4-0, shutout victory and finished the night leading in shots on goal, 34-15, despite New York outshooting the B’s, 8-6, in the third period alone.

New York wrapped up Thursday night’s action leading in blocked shots (11-6), giveaways (14-9) and hits (22-17), while Boston led the night in faceoff win% (57-43).

The Blueshirts finished 0/1 and the B’s went 1/2 on the power play.

Boston improved to 24-5-3 (12-0-2 at home) when scoring the game’s first goal, 19-0-2 (11-0-1 at home) when leading after one period and 23-0-3 (14-0-2 at home) when leading after two periods this season.

New York fell to 6-16-4 (3-6-2 on the road) when allowing the game’s first goal, 5-12-4 (3-6-2 on the road) when trailing after the first period and 1-16-0 (0-9-0 on the road) when trailing after the second period in 2020-21.

The Bruins finish their regular season series against the Rangers on Saturday afternoon before hosting the New York Islanders for their final home game of the regular season on Monday, May 10th.

Boston concludes the 2020-21 regular season on the road against the Washington Capitals on May 11th.

May 7, 2021
Devils down Bruins, 4-3, in overtime

For the first time this season on home ice, the New Jersey Devils forced a comeback after trailing in the second period and won as they defeated the Boston Bruins, 4-3, in overtime Tuesday night at Prudential Center’s final home game of the 2020-21 season.

Mackenzie Blackwood (13-16-4, 3.05 goals-against average, .902 save percentage in 33 games played) made 33 saves on 36 shots against in the win for New Jersey.

Boston goaltender, Jaroslav Halak (9-6-4, 2.53 goals-against average, .905 save percentage in 19 games played) turned aside 17 out of 21 shots faced in the overtime loss.

The Bruins fell to 31-14-7 (69 points) on the season, but remained in control of 3rd place in the MassMutual NHL East Division, while the Devils improved to 18-28-7 (43 points) overall and stuck in 7th place in the division.

Boston finished their regular season series with New Jersey 3-3-2 overall in 2020-21.

The Bruins were without the services of Ondrej Kase (upper body) and John Moore (hip) on Tuesday, while Kevan Miller (maintenance) and Jakub Zboril were removed from the lineup as Brandon Carlo returned to action from his most recent oblique injury that he sustained on April 1st against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Mike Reilly returned in Zboril’s place on the third pairing with Connor Clifton after missing Monday night’s game due to being “pretty banged up,” to paraphrase B’s head coach, Bruce Cassidy.

Cassidy made one change among his forwards, inserting Trent Frederic on the fourth line in place of Karson Kuhlman.

Meanwhile, Jeremy Swayman served as Halak’s backup on Tuesday– giving Tuukka Rask the night off as the playoffs draw near.

Boston’s long list of healthy scratches, taxi squad members and injured players included Chris Wagner, Greg McKegg, Moore, Kase, Rask, Steven Kampfer, Zboril, Callum Booth, Anton Blidh, Kuhlman, Jarred Tinordi and Miller.

Matt Grzelcyk tied up Miles Wood away from the puck and yielded the game’s first power play to the Devils as Grzelcyk cut a rut to the penalty box for interference at 4:16 of the first period.

New Jersey was not successful on their first skater advantage of the night, but Boston began a run of three consecutive infractions as Grzelcyk was the first to commit a minor infraction, then Clifton slashed Yegor Sharangovich at 6:42 and finally, Charlie McAvoy tripped Sharangovich at 8:39– resulting in three seconds of a 5-on-3 advantage for the Devils.

New Jersey’s two-skater advantage quickly dwindled down to a regular 5-on-4 power play, but not for long as Pavel Zacha (14) wired a one-timer past Halak off of the ensuing faceoff while Clifton was set to exit the sin bin and McAvoy was in the box.

Jack Hughes (19) and Nico Hischier (3) tallied the assists on Zacha’s first goal of the game as the Devils took a, 1-0, lead thanks to the power-play goal at 8:42 of the first period.

As Clifton’s minor expired, McAvoy was freed from the box thanks to Boston’s penalty kill allowing a power-play goal against and the game resumed at full strength.

Moments later, Nathan Bastian hooked Brad Marchand and cut a rut to the box at 11:27, presenting the Bruins with their first power play opportunity of the night.

The B’s did not convert on the skater advantage, however.

Entering the first intermission, the Devils led, 1-0, on the scoreboard, despite trailing the Bruins, 15-9, in shots on goal.

New Jersey led in blocked shots (5-1) and giveaways (2-0), while Boston held the advantage in hits (13-5) and faceoff win percentage (68-32).

Both teams had four takeaways each, while the Devils were 1/3 and the B’s were 0/1 on the power play heading into the middle frame.

Nicholas Merkley kicked off the second period with a hooking infraction at 3:36 and presented Boston with their second power play of the game.

This time, Patrice Bergeron (21) fired a one-timer over Blackwood’s glove from his usual spot as the bumper on the power play to tie the game, 1-1.

David Pastrnak (25) and Grzelcyk (13) had the assists on Bergeron’s power-play goal at 4:36.

Moments later, Pastrnak hooked Wood and cut a rut to the box at 7:49, but Boston’s penalty kill managed to kill off Pastrnak’s minor infraction without issue.

Late in the period, Taylor Hall dropped a pass back to Grzelcyk for a shot before the puck deflected off of Hall’s (8) leg and found its way into the back of net– giving Boston their first lead of the night in the process, 2-1.

Grzelcyk (14) and David Krejci (30) had the assists on Hall’s goal at 14:02 of the second period.

As Hall was passing through Blackwood’s “no fly zone”, New Jersey’s head coach, Lindy Ruff, used a coach’s challenge on the grounds that he believed Hall had made contact with the Devils’ netminder and therefore interfered with Blackwood’s ability to make a save.

Video review confirmed that Hall, in fact, had never touched Blackwood, yielding an automatic delay of game penalty against New Jersey, which was served by Jesper Boqvist at 14:02.

Though Boston did not score on the ensuing power play, they entered the second intermission with the lead on the scoreboard, 2-1, and in shots on goal, 27-13, including a, 12-4, advantage in the second period alone.

After 40 minutes of action, the Devils held the advantage in blocked shots (7-4) and takeaways (6-5), while the Bruins led in hits (18-10) and faceoff win% (64-36).

Both teams had four giveaways each as New Jersey was 1/4 and Boston was 1/3 on the power play heading into the final frame of regulation.

Bovqist (4) tied the game on a loose puck that was initially shot by Damon Severson, then blocked by McAvoy.

Severson (16) and Marián Studenič (1) had the assists on Boqvist’s garbage goal from the doorstep as the Devils tied the game, 2-2, at 9:10 of the third period.

Boston answered back in a hurry as Sean Kuraly (4) redirected a shot pass from Pastrnak with his skate as he was skating backwards through the low slot towards the goal line to put the B’s ahead, 3-2, at 10:42.

Pastrnak (26) and Reilly (26) had the assists on Kuraly’s goal, but the Bruins didn’t have the lead for that long.

Once again, New Jersey tied things up as Sharangovich (16) sent a wrist shot clean past Halak on a breakaway under the Bruins goaltender’s blocker less than two minutes after the B’s took the lead.

Severson (17) and Kevin Bahl (2) notched the assists on Sharangovich’s goal as the Devils tied the game, 3-3, at 12:41 of the third period.

There were no more goals, nor any penalties as the two clubs necessitated overtime to determine a winner on Tuesday night.

After regulation, the Bruins and Devils were tied, 3-3, on the scoreboard, while Boston held the advantage in shots on goal, 36-19, including a, 9-6, advantage in the third period alone.

New Jersey led in blocked shots (11-9), takeaways (9-8) and giveaways (10-6), while the B’s led in hits (26-18) and faceoff win% (64-36).

As there were no penalties called in overtime (despite a delayed penalty waiting to be called against Boston that was ultimately negated by New Jersey’s game-winning goal), the Devils finished 1/4 and the Bruins went 1/3 on the power play on Tuesday.

About midway through the extra frame, Zacha (15) waltzed through the lot slot and pulled the puck to his backhand before elevating a shot over Halak’s glove side– leaving the Bruins goaltender in a fit of rage afterward as he skated off the ice and took out his frustrations on his stick.

Hughes (20) and Will Butcher (9) celebrated their assists on Zacha’s second goal of the game, as well as the, 4-3, win.

Meanwhile, reality had set in for Boston’s backup goaltender as Halak made his first start since April 3rd– amidst an appearance on the league’s COVID protocol list, as well as the emergence of Swayman as Boston’s likely backup netminder entering the postseason– Tuesday night’s effort did not help his case for a regular role with the Bruins.

New Jersey finished the night with a, 2-0, advantage in shots on goal in the overtime period alone, but trailed Boston in total shots on goal, 36-21.

The Devils also wrapped up Tuesday night’s action leading in blocked shots (11-10) and giveaways (10-7), while the Bruins finished the game leading in hits (26-18) and faceoff win% (64-36).

The B’s fell to 3-5 in overtime (7-7 past regulation) this season, while the Devils improved to 4-2 in overtime and 4-7 overall past regulation in 2020-21.

Boston also fell to 8-9-4 (3-3-3 on the road) when allowing the game’s first goal, 5-8-3 (2-5-3 on the road) when trailing after the first period and 22-0-3 (9-0-1 on the road) when leading after two periods this season.

Meanwhile, New Jersey is now 15-10-2 (7-8-0 at home) when scoring the game’s first goal, 13-3-1 (7-2-0 at home) when leading after one period and 2-22-2 (1-13-1 at home) when trailing after the second period in 2020-21.

The Bruins return home to host the New York Rangers on Thursday and Saturday before taking on the New York Islanders in the final home game of the regular season on May 10th.

Boston concludes the 2020-21 regular season on the road against the Washington Capitals on May 11th.

May 5, 2021
Smith’s hat trick caps, 6-2, win for Boston over Buffalo

Craig Smith scored half of the goals in a, 6-2, win for the Boston Bruins over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon at TD Garden, while Jeremy Swayman (6-2-0, 1.62 goals-against average, .942 save percentage in eight games played) made 17 saves on 19 shots against in the victory.

Smith’s hat trick was just his second career hat trick (previous, Feb. 13, 2020 with Nashville in, 5-0, win vs. N.Y. Islanders) and his first in a Bruins uniform.

Sabres goaltender, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (1-3-0, 3.89 goals-against average, .906 save percentage in four games played) stopped 26 out of 29 shots faced before sustaining a lower body injury at the end of the second period that kept him out of the final frame.

Luukkonen was replaced by Dustin Tokarski (2-8-2, 3.46 goals-against average, .904 save percentage in 13 games played) turned aside 11 out of 14 shots against for no decision in his relief appearance.

Boston improved to 30-14-6 (66 points) on the season and moved into 3rd place in the MassMutual NHL East Division temporarily as the New York Islanders were in action against the New York Rangers later Saturday night at the time of this writing.

Buffalo fell to 13-32-7 (33 points) overall and remained in last place (8th) in the same division as the B’s finished 7-1-0 in their regular season series with the Sabres.

Boston was without the services of Ondrej Kase (upper body), John Moore (hip) and Brandon Carlo (oblique) on Saturday, though Carlo is expected to return to the lineup next week in New Jersey.

Chris Wagner and Trent Frederic were scratched in favor of Jake DeBrusk and Karson Kuhlman, who served as Curtis Lazar’s wingers on the fourth line.

Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, promoted Nick Ritchie to the third line left wing with Sean Kuraly at center and Charlie Coyle on right wing, while Jaroslav Halak backed up Swayman– giving Tuukka Rask the afternoon off as the B’s navigate a three-goaltender rotation.

On defense, Matt Grzelcyk was paired with Charlie McAvoy on the first pairing with Mike Reilly alongside Kevan Miller and Jeremy Lauzon with Connor Clifton to round out the blue line.

Boston’s long list of healthy scratches, taxi squad members and injured players included Frederic, Wagner, Greg McKegg, Carlo, Moore, Kase, Rask, Steven Kampfer, Jakub Zboril, Callum Booth, Anton Blidh and Jarred Tinordi.

Later this month (May 10th), limited seating capacity at TD Garden will increase to 25% (up from 12%) in accordance with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ COVID-19 reopening plans.

Smith (11) opened the scoring at 1:21 of the first period on a redirected shot pass from David Krejci while on the doorstep to make it, 1-0, Boston.

Krejci (27) and Taylor Hall (21) had the assists as the Bruins struck first for the ninth time in their last 10 games.

Midway through the opening frame, Riley Sheahan was penalized for holding, presenting the afternoon’s first power play to Boston at 10:28.

The Bruins had one second of a 5-on-3 advantage when Mattias Samuelsson tripped Coyle at 12:27, but the B’s power play was powerless as Buffalo’s penalty kill converted on a shorthanded goal off the ensuing faceoff.

As Sheahan (4) was freed from the box, Jacob Bryson connected with his teammate on a tape-to-tape pass, leading No. 15 for the Sabres into the attacking zone on a breakaway before he fired a shot past Swayman on the short side– tying the game, 1-1, in the process.

It was the sixth shorthanded goal against allowed by Boston this season, while Bryson (7) and Casey Mittelstadt (10) tallied the assists on Sheahan’s fourth goal of the season at 12:35 of the first period.

Moments later, Kuraly (3) golfed a loose puck into the back of the twine after Ritchie’s initial shot was blocked by a Sabres defender.

Ritchie (11) had the only assist on Kuraly’s first goal in 31 games at 16:38 and the Bruins led, 2-1.

After one period on Saturday, Boston led, 2-1, on the scoreboard and, 17-4, in shots on goal. The Bruins also held the advantage in blocked shots (3-1), takeaways (3-2), hits (12-8) and faceoff win percentage (56-44).

Both teams had five giveaways each, while only the B’s had seen any action on the power play– and were 0/2 in that regard– heading into the first intermission.

Lauzon threw a shot towards the goal that Patrice Bergeron (19) deflected, then backhanded a tap-in on his own rebound past Luukkonen while falling to give Boston a two-goal lead, 3-1, at 5:36 of the second period.

Lauzon (7) and Brad Marchand (34) had the assists on Bergeron’s goal.

A few minutes later, Kuraly slashed Bryson and cut a rut to the penalty box, presenting the Sabres with their first power play of the afternoon at 8:34 of the second period.

The B’s penalty kill stood tall as Buffalo’s power play units could not capitalize on the skater advantage.

Dylan Cozens was sent to the sin bin for slashing Miller at 19:09, but the Bruins weren’t able to convert on the ensuing power play, despite several zone entries.

Meanwhile, Luukkonen made a save late in the period, then struggled to get up and was helped off as the horn sounded to signal the start of the second intermission.

He did not return to Saturday afternoon’s action and was replaced by Tokarski for the third period.

Through 40 minutes of action, the Bruins led, 3-1, on the scoreboard and, 29-11, in shots on goal, including a, 12-7, advantage in the second period alone.

The Sabres led in giveaways (8-6) and faceoff win% (55-45), while Boston held the advantage in blocked shots (7-5) and hits (23-19).

Each squad had six takeaways apiece, while Buffalo was 0/1 and the B’s were 0/3 on the power play heading into the final frame.

Ritchie (13) deflected a shot from the point by Grzelcyk over Tokarski to give Boston a three-goal lead, 4-1, at 3:18 of the third period.

Grzelcyk (12) and Miller (3) had the assists on Ritchie’s goal as the Bruins winger picked up his second point of the afternoon.

Shortly thereafter, Reilly worked the puck deep into the zone before sending a quick pass from behind the goal line to Smith (12) for the redirection goal– his second of the game– that made it, 5-1, Boston.

Reilly (25) and Krejci (28) notched the assists on Smith’s goal at 5:31 of the third period, giving the Bruins back-to-back goals in a span of 2:13.

Less than two minutes later, Arttu Ruotsalainen (5) scored on a rebound from the doorstep through Swayman’s five-hole to cut Boston’s lead to three goals.

Rasmus Asplund (4) and Mittelstadt (11) had the assists on Ruotsalainen’s goal as the Sabres trailed the Bruins, 5-2, at 7:02 of the third period.

Less than a minute later, Rasmus Dahlin cross checked David Pastrnak and delivered a swift cross check to Marchand thereafter, though only the initial cross check on Pastrnak was called as a scrum ensued between both lines on the ice at 7:45.

Marchand and Pastrnak received roughing minors, thereby giving the Sabres a power play, despite losing Dahlin to a cross checking infraction.

Buffalo’s power play was unsuccessful, however.

Midway through the third period, William Borgen was penalized for interference at 13:39.

It didn’t take Boston’s power play long for Smith (13) to send another redirected shot pass into the twine behind Tokarski for a power-play goal to extend the lead back to four goals for the B’s.

Krejci (29) and Coyle (11) tabbed the assists on Smith’s third goal of the afternoon and the Bruins led, 6-2, at 14:05 of the third period.

According to 98.5 The Sports Hub‘s Bruins beat reporter, Ty Anderson, Smith’s hat trick was the first for a player not named Bergeron, Marchand, Pastrnak or Krejci since Jimmy Hayes recorded a hat trick in a, 7-3, win against the Ottawa Senators on Dec. 29, 2015.

At the final horn, the B’s sealed the deal on a, 6-2, victory over the Sabres, finishing the afternoon leading in shots (43-19, including a, 14-8, advantage in the third period alone), blocked shots (8-7) and hits (31-25).

Buffalo wrapped up Saturday afternoon, leading in giveaways (10-7) and faceoff win% (53-47), while the Sabres went 0/2 and the Bruins went 1/4 on the power play.

Boston is now 22-5-3 (11-0-2 at home) when scoring the game’s first goal, 18-0-2 (9-0-1 at home) when leading after the first period and 21-0-2 (13-0-2 at home) when leading after the second period this season.

The Sabres fell to 6-27-2 (3-12-1 on the road) when allowing the game’s first goal, 3-21-0 (2-9-0 on the road) when trailing after one period and 1-27-2 (0-12-1 on the road) when trailing after two periods in 2020-21.

Next week, the Bruins travel to New Jersey for back-to-back games against the Devils on Monday and Tuesday before hosting the New York Rangers on Thursday and Saturday.

Boston’s last home game of the regular season is May 10th against the New York Islanders and the B’s will finish the regular season on May 11th in Washington, D.C. against the Capitals.

May 1, 2021
Bruins down Sabres, 5-2, extend gap with Rangers

The Boston Bruins got the most out of their top-six forwards on Thursday night in a, 5-2, victory over the Buffalo Sabres at TD Garden as Tuukka Rask (13-4-2, 2.27 goals-against average, .916 save percentage in 21 games played) made 29 saves on 31 shots faced in the win.

Sabres netminder, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (1-2-0, 3.75 goals-against average, .908 save percentage in three games), had 35 saves on 39 shots against in the loss.

Boston improved to 29-14-6 (64 points) on the season and remain in command of 4th place in the MassMutual NHL East Division– six points ahead of the New York Rangers, who remain on the outside looking in when it comes to the playoff picture.

Buffalo fell to 13-31-7 (33 points) overall and stagnant in 8th place (last) in the division.

The B’s are now 6-1-0 against the Sabres this season with one more game remaining in their regular season series on Saturday afternoon.

The Bruins were without Ondrej Kase (upper body), John Moore (hip), and Brandon Carlo (upper body) on Thursday, while Craig Smith was a game-time decision due to an issue that was resolved prior to warmup with his COVID testing.

As Smith’s issue was absolved, Jake DeBrusk remained a healthy scratch, while B’s head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made minor adjustments among his forwards.

Trent Frederic, Sean Kuraly and Charlie Coyle made up the third line, while Nick Ritchie, Curtis Lazar and Chris Wagner comprised the fourth line.

Jaroslav Halak served as Rask’s backup with Jeremy Swayman earning the night off.

Meanwhile, Boston’s long list of healthy scratches, taxi squad members and injured players including, Swayman, Greg McKegg, Carlo, Moore, Kase, Steven Kampfer, Jakub Zboril, Callum Booth, DeBrusk, Anton Blidh, Karson Kuhlman and Jarred Tinordi.

Jack Ahcan was sent to the Providence Bruins (AHL) on Wednesday, while Urho Vaakanainen was also reassigned to Providence on Thursday ahead of Boston’s game against the Sabres.

The P-Bruins season is winding down and will not feature a postseason following it as the American Hockey League announced on Thursday that for the second straight year, there would be no traditional Calder Cup Playoffs.

Only the AHL’s Pacific Division elected to have a playoff tournament to determine a division champion, while the rest of the AHL’s division title winners will simply default to the team that finishes the season with the best regular season record.

Providence is currently 1st in the Atlantic Division with a 14-6-1-1 record on the season.

Meanwhile, starting May 10th (vs. N.Y. Islanders), TD Garden will increase their limited seating capacity from 12% to 25% in accordance with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ COVID-19 reopening plans.

A little over a minute into the action on Thursday night, David Pastrnak (19) rocketed a one-timer past Luukkonen from his typical spot near the faceoff dot on a pass from across the slot to make it, 1-0, Boston at 1:16 of the first period.

Patrice Bergeron (24) and Brad Marchand (33) tallied the assists on Pastrnak’s 199th career National Hockey League goal.

Late in the period, Casey Mittelstadt (10) buried a rebound after the Bruins turned the puck over in their own defensive zone and were caught behind the play.

Arttu Ruotsalainen (1) and Rasmus Asplund (3) notched the assists on Mittelstadt’s goal as the Sabres tied the game, 1-1, at 14:09.

Moments later, Buffalo forward, Sam Reinhart, tripped Pastrnak and presented the Bruins with their first power play of the night at 18:05.

Late in the ensuing skater advantage, as the final second on the clock was winding down prior to the first intermission, David Krejci (8) sent a one-timer off the post that had eyes off of Luukkonen’s back and trickled into the net to give Boston a, 2-1, lead heading into the first intermission.

Charlie McAvoy (23) and Smith (18) had the primary and secondary assists on Krejci’s power-play goal at 19:59.

After one period, the B’s led, 2-1, on the scoreboard and held the advantage in shots on goal, 13-11.

Meanwhile, Buffalo held the advantage in takeaways (4-3), giveaways (4-3), hits (13-9) and faceoff win percentage (59-41). Both teams had two blocked shots apiece while the Sabres had yet to appear on the skater advantage and the Bruins were 1/1 on the power play heading into the middle frame.

Lazar interfered with Reinhart and presented the Sabres with their first power play of the night at 5:36 of the second period, but Boston’s penalty kill did its job and went unscathed on the scoreboard.

Late in the middle frame, Rasmus Dahlin hooked Marchand and cut a rut to the penalty box at 14:50, but Bruins weren’t able to convert on the ensuing skater advantage.

Through 40 minutes of action on Thursday, Boston led Buffalo, 2-1, on the scoreboard and, 28-22, in shots on goal, including a, 15-11, advantage in the second period alone.

The Sabres maintained a hold in blocked shots (6-4), takeaways (8-4), hits (22-17), while the Bruins led in giveaways (7-6) and faceoff win% (63-37).

Buffalo was 0/1 and Boston was 1/2 on the power play heading into the final frame.

Reinhart (23) tied the action, 2-2, with a quick release from the slot, while Victor Olofsson (17) and Jeff Skinner (6) worked the puck deep into the zone and earned the assists on Reinhart’s goal at 1:43 of the third period.

Almost midway through the final frame, Coyle (6) stole the rubber biscuit in the neutral zone and charged up the ice– forcing his own breakaway into fruition while Reinhart and Rasmus Ristolainen trailed on his back– before roofing the puck top-shelf for his first goal in 28 games.

Coyle’s individual effort was unassisted and ended the longest scoring drought in his career thus far (nine years) and made it, 3-2, for Boston at 7:58 of the third period.

Moments later, Krejci and Dahlin got tangled up in a bit of a heated exchange in which Krejci was handed a minor for interference and Dahlin received a holding infraction, yielding two minutes of 4-on-4 action at 13:30.

Just as the two clubs resumed 5-on-5 play, Smith worked the puck to Krejci while No. 46 in black and gold broke into the attacking zone by deking around Dahlin, then toe-dragging around Henri Jokiharju before setting up Taylor Hall (7) for the one-timer goal at 16:43.

Hall’s goal gave Boston some insurance with a, 4-2, lead, while Krejci (26) and Smith (19) had the assists.

About a minute later, Connor Clifton, slashed former teammate, Anders Bjork, and presented Buffalo with a power play at 17:47.

Sabres interim head coach, Don Granato, pulled Luukkonen for an extra attacker, but it was to no avail as Marchand (27) sent the puck into the open net from his own end on a floater of a shot just under the bar for his 31st career shorthanded goal.

Marchand’s empty net goal was unassisted at 18:26 and the Bruins secured the, 5-2, victory as a result at the final horn.

Boston finished the night leading in shots on goal, 40-31, including a, 12-9, advantage in the third period alone.

Buffalo finished the night leading in his (30-24), while the B’s wrapped up Thursday’s action with the advantage in blocked shots (9-7), giveaways (10-8) and faceoff win% (59-41).

The Sabres went 0/2 on the power play, while the Bruins finished 1/2 on the skater advantage.

Boston improved to 21-5-3 (10-0-2 at home) when scoring the game’s first goal, 17-0-2 (9-0-1 at home) when leading after the first period and 20-0-2 (12-0-2 at home) when leading after two periods in 2020-21.

Buffalo, meanwhile, fell to 6-26-2 (3-11-1 on the road) when allowing the game’s first goal, 3-20-0 (2-8-0 on the road) when trailing after one and 1-26-2 (0-11-1 on the road) when losing after the second period this season.

The Bruins face the Sabres to kick off the month of May on Saturday afternoon before hitting the road for a pair of games next week in New Jersey against the Devils. Boston went 11-5-1 in the month of April.

April 30, 2021
Bruins bounce back with, 3-1, win in Pittsburgh

After being shutout, 1-0, on Sunday by the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena, the Boston Bruins got split their two games in the “Steel City” with a, 3-1, win on Tuesday night.

Tuukka Rask (12-4-2, 2.29 goals-against average, .915 save percentage in 20 games played) made 25 saves on 26 shots faced in the win for Boston.

Pittsburgh netminder, Tristan Jarry (21-9-3, 2.71 goals-against average, .911 save percentage in 34 games played) made 28 saves on 31 shots against in the loss.

The Bruins are now 28-14-6 (62 points) on the season and remain in command of 4th place in the MassMutual NHL East Division, while the Penguins fell to 32-15-3 (67 points) overall and dropped to 2nd place in the division.

Boston won the regular season series against Pittsburgh (5-3-0) in 2020-21’s 56-game schedule due to the ongoing global pandemic.

The Bruins were without the services of Ondrej Kase (upper body), John Moore (hip) and Brandon Carlo (upper body) on Tuesday, while Trent Frederic returned to the lineup for the first time in 11 games after recovering from a non-COVID protocol related illness.

Frederic joined the fourth line alongside Curtis Lazar at center and Chris Wagner on right wing, while Sean Kuraly was promoted to the third line center with Charlie Coyle moved to the right wing and Jake DeBrusk serving as a healthy scratch.

Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, also re-inserted Connor Clifton o the blue line in place of Steven Kampfer, while Jaroslav Halak served as Rask’s backup with Jeremy Swayman earning the night off.

Boston’s long list of healthy scratches, taxi squad members and injured players included Swayman, Greg McKegg, Carlo, Moore, Kase, Kampfer, Jack Ahcan, Urho Vaakanainen, Jakub Zboril, Callum Booth, DeBrusk, Anton Blidh, Karson Kuhlman and Jarred Tinordi.

Mike Reilly cut a rut to the penalty box early in the action on Tuesday night as he was assessed a minor infraction for holding the stick while falling near the endboards in a tangle with Jared McCann at 1:32 of the first period.

Pittsburgh’s ensuing power play was powerless, however, as Boston’s penalty kill stood tall.

Midway through the opening frame, the Bruins had too many skaters on the ice resulting in a bench minor at 10:18.

Taylor Hall served the penalty in the box while the B’s penalty kill successfully held the Penguins off the scoreboard during the special teams action.

After one period of play on Tuesday, the Bruins and Penguins were tied, 0-0, on the scoreboard, despite Boston holding a, 14-11, advantage in shots on goal.

The B’s led in blocked shots (10-4), takeaways (4-1), hits (14-7) and faceoff win percentage (80-20), while the Pens held the advantage in giveaways (3-1).

Pittsburgh was 0/2 on the power play, while Boston had yet to see any time on the skater advantage heading into the middle frame.

Kevan Miller slashed Jason Zucker and went to the box at 5:13 of the second period, presenting the Penguins with a power play as a result.

Once more, however, Boston’s penalty kill managed to kill the minor with ease.

Late in the period, the Bruins’ power play units got their first shift of the night as Evan Rodrigues went to the box for roughing at 15:41.

Despite not scoring on the power play, Boston caught Pittsburgh in the vulnerable minute afterward, whereby Charlie McAvoy worked a roughly 200-foot effort down the ice to David Krejci (7) for a backhand shot over Jarry’s pad, but under the Pens goaltender’s glove to make it, 1-0, for the B’s.

McAvoy (22) and Rask (2) had the assists on Krejci’s goal at 18:10 of the second period.

Through 40 minutes of play on Tuesday, Boston led, 1-0, on the scoreboard and, 22-17, in shots on goal, including an, 8-6, advantage in the second period alone.

The Bruins also held the advantage in blocked shots (16-5), hits (32-19) and faceoff win% (72-28), while the Penguins led in takeaways (9-5) and giveaways (5-2).

Pittsburgh was 0/3 and Boston was 0/1 on the power play heading into the second intermission.

Early in the final frame, Jeremy Lauzon and Teddy Blueger exchanged fisticuffs and received fighting majors at 6:38 of the third period as a result.

It was the 13th fight of the season for Boston and the first since Miller fought Tage Thompson on April 13th vs. Buffalo.

Moments later, Brad Marchand (26) buried a rebound to give the Bruins a two-goal lead.

David Pastrnak (24) had the initial shot that forced a rebound to Marchand for the goal, while Curtis Lazar (6) had the secondary assist as the B’s took a, 2-0, lead at 9:11 of the third period.

About a few minutes later, Hall (6) strolled into the slot after deking past Sidney Crosby and snapped a shot over Jarry’s blocker to make it, 3-0, Boston at 12:18.

Krejci (25) and Reilly (24) tallied the assists on Hall’s goal at 12:18.

Late in the frame, Jeff Carter (11) sent a rocket past Rask’s blocked side to put Pittsburgh on the scoreboard with an old school slap shot from the faceoff dot.

Kris Letang (33) and Kasperi Kapanen (16) had the assists on Carter’s goal as the Penguins trailed the Bruins, 3-1, at 17:39.

With two minutes left in regulation, Pens head coach, Mike Sullivan, pulled Jarry for an extra attacker, but it was to no avail as the B’s shut Pittsburgh’s 6-on-5 advantage down and pulled off the, 3-1, victory at the final horn.

Boston finished the night leading in shots on goal (31-26), blocked shots (21-7), hits (50-25) and faceoff win% (57-43).

Pittsburgh wrapped up the night with the advantage in giveaways (5-3), while the Penguins went 0/3 and the Bruins went 0/1 on the power play.

The B’s improved to 7-6-2 (4-3-0 on the road) when tied after the first period, 20-5-3 (11-5-1 on the road) when scoring the game’s first goal and 19-0-2 (8-0-0 on the road) when leading after two periods this season.

The Pens fell to 7-3-1 (4-3-1 at home) when tied after one period, 12-11-1 (8-3-0 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal and 4-11-1 (2-2-0 at home) when trailing after the second period in 2020-21.

The Bruins went 3-2-0 on their five-game road trip and head home to finish the month of April and start the month of May with a pair of games against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday and Saturday.

April 27, 2021
Jarry earns shutout in, 1-0, win for Pens over Bruins

Tristan Jarry led the Pittsburgh Penguins to a, 1-0, shutout over the Boston Bruins on Sunday afternoon at PPG Paints Arena– earning his first shutout of the season in a 30-save effort.

Jarry (21-8-3, 2.70 goals-against average, .911 save percentage in 33 games played) stopped all 30 shots that he faced en route to his sixth career shutout for the Penguins.

Bruins goaltender, Jeremy Swayman (5-2-0, 1.57 goals-against average, .946 save percentage in seven games played) made 28 saves on 29 shots against in the loss.

Boston fell to 27-14-6 (60 points) on the season, but in command of 4th place in the MassMutual NHL East Division, while Pittsburgh improved to 32-14-3 (67 points) overall and in command of the division standings (1st place).

The B’s also fell to 4-3-0 against the Pens this season and are now 13-8-3 on the road in 2020-21.

After a, 6-4, loss to the Buffalo Sabres on the road on Friday, the Bruins shifted their focus to Pittsburgh for a pair of games against the Penguins.

Boston was without Ondrej Kase (upper body), John Moore (hip), Brandon Carlo (upper body) and Trent Frederic (non-COVID protocol related illness) on Sunday, but witnessed the return of Patrice Bergeron to the lineup after their captain had missed Friday night’s loss in Buffalo with a lower body injury.

As a result of Bergeron’s return, Charlie Coyle went back to his usual role centering the third line, while Sean Kuraly and Curtis Lazar returned to the fourth line as left wing and center, respectively.

Anton Blidh was the only forward to come out of the lineup, while Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made no changes to his defensive pairings against the Penguins.

In the crease, Jaroslav Halak served as Swayman’s backup on Sunday with Tuukka Rask earning the afternoon off in the press box as a healthy scratch.

Rask was joined by a long list of names including healthy scratches, taxi squad members and injured players such as Frederic, Greg McKegg, Carlo, Moore, Kase, Jack Ahcan, Urho Vaakanainen, Jakub Zboril, Callum Booth, Connor Clifton, Blidh, Karson Kuhlman and Jarred Tinordi.

Not much happened in the opening frame on Sunday.

In fact, neither team scored a goal, nor was there a penalty in the first period as the two teams entered the first intermission tied, 0-0, on the scoreboard and in shots on goal, 10-10.

Boston, however, held the advantage in blocked shots (6-0) and giveaways (3-2), while Pittsburgh led in takeaways (1-0), hits (14-9) and faceoff win percentage (59-41).

As there were no penalties called in the first period, both clubs were 0/0 on the power play.

Nothing happened in the second period either, except for a bunch of saves for each goaltender.

Through 40 minutes of play, Swayman had stopped all 21 shots faced, while Jarry made 18 saves on 18 shots as the Penguins led the Bruins, 21-18, in shots on goal, including an, 11-8, advantage in the second period alone.

The scoreboard still read, 0-0, as Boston held the advantage in blocked shots (10-6) and Pittsburgh led in giveaways (7-4), hits (23-21) and faceoff win% (55-45).

Both teams had four takeaways each and were 0/0 on the power play as no penalties were called in the action entering the second intermission.

Jake Guentzel (21) fired a one-timer from the faceoff dot over Swayman’s glove side to give the Penguins the game’s first goal, while Sidney Crosby (36) and Brian Dumoulin (10) recorded the assists as Pittsburgh took a, 1-0, lead at 4:03 of the third period.

It turned out to be the only goal of the afternoon.

With less than two minutes left in regulation, Cassidy pulled his goaltender for an extra skater, but while Boston was defending their own zone, Bergeron caught Guentzel with a high stick and received the game’s first and only infraction at 18:32.

The Bruins used their timeout to come up with a strategy to handle both being shorthanded and what to do should they get possession in the attacking zone and even things up at 5-on-5 with Swayman heading for the bench, but it was to no avail.

The Pens did not convert on the ensuing power play, however.

Time simply ran out for Boston and Pittsburgh as Jarry and the Penguins secured the, 1-0, victory, despite trailing in shots on goal, 30-29, on the afternoon.

Boston held the advantage in shots in the third period alone, 12-8, as well as in blocked shots (14-8), while Pittsburgh led in giveaways (11-7) and faceoff win% (52-48).

The two teams finished the afternoon even in hits, 33-33, while only the Penguins had a power play on the afternoon– going 0/1 on the skater advantage in the process.

The Bruins fell to 8-9-3 (3-3-2 on the road) when allowing the game’s first goal, 6-6-2 (3-3-0 on the road) when tied after one period and 5-6-3 (5-5-2 on the road) when tied after two periods this season.

Pittsburgh, meanwhile, improved to 20-4-2 (12-1-2 at home) when scoring the game’s first goal, 7-2-1 (4-2-1 at home) when tied after the first period and 7-3-1 (5-1-1 at home) when tied after the second period in 2020-21.

The B’s close out their five-game road trip (2-2-0) with another matchup in Pittsburgh against the Penguins on Tuesday. Boston finished the month of April at home on Thursday night against the Buffalo Sabres.

April 25, 2021
Preview: Game 46- Bruins @ Sabres

Friday night at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York, the Boston Bruins face the Buffalo Sabres in the second night of back-to-back games while Boston vies for a seventh-straight win in their current winning streak.

The Bruins enter Friday having beaten the Sabres twice this week, most recently on Thursday night in a, 5-1, victory. Buffalo has yet to beat Boston this season as the two teams square off for the sixth time in 2020-21.

Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, indicated that defender, Kevan Miller, would make a return to the lineup in place of Connor Clifton, while Tuukka Rask would get the start in net on Friday.

Jaroslav Halak is expected to serve as Rask’s backup with Jeremy Swayman earning the night off in the press box as a healthy scratch after making 29 saves on 30 shots against in Thursday’s win.

Boston will be without Ondrej Kase, Brandon Carlo, John Moore, Trent Frederic and Patrice Bergeron as Kase and Carlo did not travel with the team for their current road trip, Moore is out for the rest of the season due to a hip injury and Frederic is still recovering from a non-COVID protocol related illness.

Bergeron was withheld from pregame warmup with a lower body injury.

Cassidy told reporters earlier in the week that while Kase is not regressing, he has still yet to return to full capacity at practice and would require some game action before making any swift lineup adjustments down the stretch as the Bruins are inside of 10 games remaining in the regular season after Friday night’s action.

The B’s (27-12-6, 60 points) are 4th place in the MassMutual NHL East Division entering their 46th game of this season’s 56-game schedule, while Buffalo is last in the division with a 12-28-7 record (31 points).

Boston is 13-6-3 on the road this season and 8-2-0 in their last ten games, while the Sabres are 5-16-4 on home ice and 4-5-1 in their last ten games.

The Bruins are 147-113-29-12 in 301 regular season meetings against the Sabres all time with 966 goals for and 932 goals against in that span.

Boston is 32-25-1-7 in 65 games at KeyBank Center since the building was opened in 1996, though Buffalo has outscored the Bruins, 177-168, in that span.

Brad Marchand leads the Bruins in scoring with 25-32–57 totals in 43 games, while Bergeron (18-23–41 totals in 48 games) and David Pastrnak (18-23–41 totals in 38 games) round out the top-three in team scoring this season.

Pastrnak is two goals away from his 200th career NHL goal. He has 198-222–420 totals in 428 career NHL games since being drafted by Boston in the 1st round (25th overall) of the 2014 NHL Draft.

Sam Reinhart leads the Sabres in scoring with 17-13–30 totals in 45 games this season, while Victor Olofsson (12-15–27 totals in 47 games) and Rasmus Dahlin (4-16–20 totals in 47 games) rank second and third in scoring for Buffalo.

Rask (11-4-2, 2.22 goals-against average, .916 save percentage in 18 games played) is expected to get the start for the Bruins after having Thursday night off. He had a 32-save shutout in Boston’s, 2-0, win in Buffalo on Monday.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is set to make his National Hockey League debut in the crease for the Sabres since he was drafted in the 2nd round (54th overall) by Buffalo in 2017.

He posted a 1.80 goals-against average and a .932 save percentage in six games for Finland at the 2019 IIHF World Junior tournament and has a 3.60 goals-against average and an .888 save percentage in 14 games for the Rochester Americans (AHL) this season.

Boston is currently 2-0-0 on their five-game road trip with a pair of games in Pittsburgh after Friday night’s action in Buffalo before returning home to face the Sabres to close out the month of April.

Expected lineups

Boston Bruins

63 Brad Marchand (A) 13 Charlie Coyle 88 David Pastrnak

71 Taylor Hall 46 David Krejci (A) 12 Craig Smith

21 Nick Ritchie 20 Curtis Lazar 74 Jake DeBrusk

81 Anton Blidh 52 Sean Kuraly 14 Chris Wagner

48 Matt Grzlecyk 73 Charlie McAvoy

6 Mike Reilly 86 Kevan Miller (A)

55 Jeremy Lauzon 44 Steven Kampfer

40 Tuukka Rask

41 Jaroslav Halak

Healthy scratches, injured and taxi squad members (officially TBA, below is only a prediction based on last game)

Jeremy Swayman, Trent Frederic (illness), Greg McKegg, Brandon Carlo (upper body), John Moore (hip), Ondrej Kase (upper body), Jack Ahcan, Urho Vaakanainen, Jakub Zboril, Callum Booth, Connor Clifton, Anton Blidh, Karson Kuhlman, Jarred Tinordi, Kevan Miller (right knee)

Buffalo Sabres

53 Jeff Skinner 23 Sam Reinhart 68 Victor Olofsson

74 Rasmus Asplund 37 Casey Mittelstadt 72 Tage Thompson

96 Anders Bjork 24 Dylan Cozens 25 Arttu Ruotsalainen

13 Tobias Rieder 15 Riley Sheahan 91 Drake Caggiula

54 Mattias Samuelsson 55 Rasmus Ristolainen

26 Rasmus Dahlin 10 Henri Jokiharju

78 Jacob Bryson 3 Will Borgen

1 Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen

31 Dustin Tokarski

Healthy scratches, injured and taxi squad members (officially TBA, below is only a prediction based on last game)

Jack Eichel (lower body), Cody Eakin, Colin Miller, Linus Ullmark, Carter Hutton, Matt Irwin

Goaltending stats entering Thursday

Boston Bruins

1 Jeremy Swayman 5-1-0 in 6 GP, 1.65 GAA, .943 SV%, 1 SO

40 Tuukka Rask 10-4-2 in 17 GP, 2.35 GAA, .910 SV%, 1 SO

41 Jaroslav Halak 9-5-3 in 17 GP, 2.44 GAA, .910 SV%, 2 SO

70 Callum Booth 0-0-0 in 0 GP, 0.00 GAA, .000 SV%, 0 SO

80 Dan Vladar 2-2-1 in 5 GP, 3.40 GAA, .886 SV%, 0 SO

Buffalo Sabres

1 Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen 0-0-0 in 0 GP, 0.00 GAA, .000 SV%, 0 SO

31 Dustin Tokarski 2-7-2 in 11 GP, 3.23 GAA, .914 SV%, 0 SO

32 Michael Houser 0-0-0 in 0 GP, 0.00 GAA, .000 SV%, 0 SO

35 Linus Ullmark 9-6-3 in 20 GP, 2.63 GAA, .917 SV%, 0 SO

40 Carter Hutton 1-10-1 in 13 GP, 3.47 GAA, .886 SV%, 0 SO

April 23, 2021
Bruins rout Sabres, 5-1, in Buffalo

Five different scorers led the Boston Bruins over the Buffalo Sabres in a, 5-1, victory at KeyBank Center on Thursday night as the B’s extended their winning streak to six games.

Jeremy Swayman (5-1-0, 1.65 goals-against average, .943 save percentage in six games played) made 29 saves on 30 shots against in the win for the Bruins.

Sabres goaltender, Dustin Tokarski (2-7-2, 3.23 goals-against average, .914 save percentage in 11 games played) turned aside 33 out of 38 shots faced in the loss.

Boston improved to 27-12-6 (60 points) on the season and remained in command of 4th place in the MassMutual NHL East Division, while Buffalo fell to 12-28-7 (31 points) overall and stagnant in last place in the same division.

The B’s are now 5-0-0 against the Sabres this season.

The Bruins were without Ondrej Kase (upper body), John Moore (hip), Brandon Carlo (upper body), Trent Frederic (non-COVID protocol related illness) and Kevan Miller (undisclosed) on Thursday, while Jaroslav Halak returned from the league’s COVID protocol and served as Swayman’s backup goaltender for the night.

Tuukka Rask, as a result, was made a healthy scratch for the evening, joining the likes of Frederic, Greg McKegg, Carlo, Moore, Kase, Rask, Jack Ahcan, Urho Vaakanainen, Jakub Zboril, Callum Booth, Anton Blidh, Karson Kuhlman, Jarred Tinordi and Miller on the long list of healthy scratches, taxi squad members and injured players.

Meanwhile, Steven Kampfer was reinserted in the lineup in place of Zboril on the third defensive pairing. Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made no other changes to his lineup on Thursday.

Rasmus Ristolainen kicked off the game’s action on the event sheet with a boarding minor at 8:13 of the first period, presenting the Bruins with the game’s first power play as a result.

Boston was not successful on the ensuing skater advantage, however.

Moments later, Brad Marchand (25) flipped the puck into the open net on a catch and release pass from Patrice Bergeron through the slot while Tokarski lunged across the crease in desperation but couldn’t come up with the save.

Bergeron (23) and Mike Reilly (23) had the assists as the Bruins took a, 1-0, lead at 12:36 of the first period.

About a couple minutes later, Charlie McAvoy hooked Dylan Cozens and cut a rut to the penalty box, yielding a power play to Buffalo for the first time on Thursday at 14:25.

The Sabres weren’t able to convert on the resulting power play, however.

The two teams finished the first period at 4-on-4 as Marchand and Casey Mittelstadt received matching roughing minors at 18:18, extending the 4-on-4 action into the second period as a result.

Through 20 minutes of action in Buffalo, the Bruins led the Sabres, 1-0, on the scoreboard and, 14-7, in shots on goal.

Boston also held the advantage in blocked shots (5-2), giveaways (4-3) and faceoff win percentage (53-47), while Buffalo led in takeaways (3-0) and hits (11-4) heading into the first intermission.

Entering the middle frame, both teams were 0/1 on the power play.

Ristolainen kicked off the second period’s action with a holding infraction at 1:49, but the B’s couldn’t score on the resulting power play.

Moments later, Arttu Ruotsalainen (3) tied the game, 1-1, on a one-timer from Anders Bjork at 5:27 of the second period.

Bjork (6) and Cozens (8) tallied the assists as the Sabres had a small shift in momentum in the grand scheme of things.

Less than a minute later, David Pastrnak was penalized for boarding at 5:48, but Buffalo couldn’t score on the ensuing power play, nor could the Sabres take advantage of Kampfer’s interference minor at 8:56.

Midway through the middle frame, the Bruins won an attacking zone faceoff and worked the puck around the blue line to Matt Grzelcyk (4) for a wrist shot off of Tokarski’s glove and into the net for the eventual game-winning goal.

McAvoy (20) and Pastrnak (23) were credited with the assists on Grzelcyk’s goal as Boston went ahead, 2-1, on the scoreboard at 12:50 of the second period.

Less than a minute later, Bergeron was sent to the sin bin after hooking Sabres forward, Tobias Rieder, at 13:11.

Buffalo couldn’t convert on Bergeron’s minor, nor McAvoy’s slashing infraction at 16:26, as Boston entered the second intermission ahead on the scoreboard, 2-1.

The Bruins held the advantage in shots on goal, 26-20, despite trailing the Sabres in shots on net in the second period alone, 13-12.

Boston led in blocked shots (9-5) and giveaways (5-4), while Buffalo dominated in takeaways (5-1), hits (14-9) and faceoff win% (59-42) after two periods.

As there were no penalties called in the final frame, the Sabres finished the night 0/5 on the power play, while the B’s went 0/2.

Pastrnak (18) extended Boston’s lead after working his way around Rasmus Dahlin prior to sniping a shot past Tokarski’s blocker side to give the Bruins a two-goal lead.

Marchand (32) and Grzelcyk (11) tallied the assists on Pastrnak’s goal as Boston led, 3-1, at 4:54 of the third period.

About a minute later, Nick Ritchie (11) notched his first goal in 13 games on a short side shot to make it, 4-1, and give the B’s a three-goal lead.

Jake DeBrusk (6) and Charlie Coyle (10) had the assists– marking 300 career points for Coyle with the secondary assist in the process– on Ritchie’s goal at 6:01.

Late in the game, David Krejci (6) buried a rebound to assure Boston of a, 5-1, victory at 18:02 of the third period, while Jeremy Lauzon (6) and Taylor Hall (19) picked up the assists.

At the final horn, the Bruins had won, 5-1, and finished the night leading in shots on goal, 38-30, including a, 12-10, advantage in the third period alone.

The Bruins wrapped up Thursday night’s action leading in blocked shots (12-9) and giveaways (7-6), while the Sabres finished the action leading in hits (18-17) and faceoff win% (51-49).

Boston improved to 19-4-3 (10-4-1 on the road) when scoring the game’s first goal, 16-0-2 (8-0-1 on the road) when leading after the first period and 18-0-2 (7-0-0 on the road) when leading after two periods this season.

Buffalo fell to 5-23-2 (2-15-1 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal, 3-18-0 (1-12-0 at home) when trailing after one period and 1-24-2 (1-15-1 at home) when trailing after the second period in 2020-21.

The Bruins face the Sabres again on Friday before venturing to Pittsburgh next week and hosting Buffalo to close out the month of April. Boston is 2-0-0 on their current five-game road trip.

April 23, 2021
Rask earns 51st career shutout in, 2-0, win in Buffalo

Brad Marchand and Connor Clifton scored the only goals while Tuukka Rask (11-4-2, 2.22 goals-against average, .916 save percentage in 18 games played) made 32 saves in a, 2-0, shutout win for the Boston Bruins over the Buffalo Sabres Tuesday night at KeyBank Center.

Rask picked up his first shutout of the season and 51st of his career, while Dustin Tokarski (2-6-2, 3.05 goals-against average, .918 save percentage in 10 games played) stopped 39 out of 41 shots faced for a .951 save percentage in the loss for Buffalo.

The Bruins improved to 26-12-6 (58 points) on the season and in command of 4th place in the MassMutual NHL East Division, while the Sabres fell to 12-27-7 (31 points) overall and in last place in the same division.

The B’s also improved to 4-0-0 against Buffalo this season.

The Bruins were without the services of Ondrej Kase (upper body), John Moore (hip), Brandon Carlo (upper body), Trent Frederic (non-COVID protocol related illness), Kevan Miller (undisclosed) and Jaroslav Halak (COVID protocol) on Tuesday.

Kase and Carlo did not travel with the team for their five-game road trip, while Miller traveled with the club and is “better” according to head coach, Bruce Cassidy.

After missing 18 games this season, most recently due to an upper body injury sustained on April 10th in Philadelphia, Matt Grzelcyk returned to the lineup on defense.

Jakub Zboril was back too after missing a game due to a non-COVID protocol related illness.

Cassidy made no changes among his forwards, while slotting Grzelcyk in on the left side of the first defensive pairing with Charlie McAvoy and moving Jeremy Lauzon to the third pairing with Zboril.

Mike Reilly and Clifton remained paired on the second defensive pairing while Jarred Tinordi and Steven Kampfer joined Frederic, Greg McKegg, Carlo, Moore, Kase, Halak, Jack Ahcan, Urho Vaakanainen, Callum Booth, Anton Blidh, Karson Kuhlman, Tinordi and Miller on Boston’s long list of healthy scratches, taxi squad members and injured players.

Ahcan and Vaakanainen were recalled to the taxi squad depending on your source for American Hockey League transactions (CapFriendly, the AHL transactions page itself, TSN or CBS Sports), meanwhile Zach Senyshyn was sent to the Providence Bruins (AHL) over the weekend with Dan Vladar.

Editor’s note: Also apparently McKegg’s been erroneously forgotten from the taxi squad in these lineup notes/recaps since early April. My bad. Please forgive me, Greg.

Midway through the opening frame, Marchand (24) backhanded a rebound over Tokarski while the Sabres goaltender reached to trap the loose puck.

David Pastrnak (22) and Reilly (22) had the assists on Marchand’s goal as the Bruins jumped out to a, 1-0, lead at 8:06 of the first period.

Moments later, Jake DeBrusk cut a rut to the penalty box for hooking former teammate turned newest skater in Buffalo, Anders Bjork at 11:17.

The Sabres weren’t able to convert on the ensuing skater advantage, however.

There were no more goals or penalties as the first period came to a close with Boston ahead, 1-0, on the scoreboard and both teams tied, 9-9, in shots on goal.

Buffalo held the lead in takeaways (3-1) and giveaways (3-2), while the B’s had the advantage in hits (7-3) and faceoff win percentage (69-31) after one period.

Both teams had five blocked shots each, while the Sabres were 0/1 on the power play and the Bruins had yet to see time on the skater advantage.

Early in the middle frame, Clifton (1) threw a shot on goal from the point that trickled through Tokarski and was kicked in by the Buffalo netminder, giving Boston a two-goal lead.

Sean Kuraly (3) and Curtis Lazar (5) had the assists on Clifton’s first goal since Nov. 19, 2019, and the Bruins led, 2-0, at 3:03 of the second period.

Midway through the middle period, Marchand elbowed Henri Jokiharju and received a minor infraction at 11:04 as a result.

Buffalo’s power play was short lived, however, as Rasmus Ristolainen laid out Lauzon in front of the net for no apparent reason at 12:10, resulting in 4-on-4 action for about 56 seconds before the B’s had an abbreviated power play.

Through 40 minutes of action on Tuesday, Boston led Buffalo, 2-0, on the scoreboard, as well as in shots on goal, 27-15, including an, 18-6, advantage in the second period alone.

The Bruins held the advantage in hits (13-6) and faceoff win% (65-35), while the Sabres led in blocked shots (11-9), takeaways (7-4) and giveaways (6-4).

Buffalo was 0/2 and Boston was 0/1 on the power play entering the second intermission.

There were no goals scored in the third period, though there were plenty of chances to score on the skater advantage as multiple penalties were called on both clubs in the final frame.

Drake Caggiula interfered with Pastrnak and presented Boston with the first power play of the third period at 1:05, but the Bruins were unsuccessful in assuring themselves of complete dominance over the Sabres.

Instead, McAvoy roughed Jeff Skinner at 8:03, but Buffalo’s power play was cut short when Sam Reinhart tripped Clifton and sent the Bruins defender face first into the boards as a result.

The two squads skated at 4-on-4 for a little under 90 seconds as Reinhart cut a rut to the sin bin at 8:30 of the third period.

Moments later, Craig Smith caught Mattias Samuelsson with a high stick at 12:41, but Buffalo couldn’t muster anything on the power play.

Nor could the Sabres score when Nick Ritchie slashed Jacob Bryson at 16:59 and Lauzon followed his teammate in the box at 17:26 for roughing Victor Olofsson along the wall.

No, Buffalo, despite having a 6-on-3 advantage– having pulled Tokarski for an extra attacker– could not establish much of an attacking zone presence while on the power play late in the game.

The team looked all but defeated before they were, in fact, actually defeated.

At the final horn, not only had the Bruins killed off their minors, but they actually were on the power play as time expired since the Sabres had seven skaters on the ice while in possession of the puck at 19:06– yielding an automatic delay of game penalty for too many skaters.

At the final horn, Boston shutout Buffalo, 2-0, on the scoreboard and finished the night leading in shots on goal, 41-32, as well, despite the Sabres leading in shots in the third period alone, 17-14.

Buffalo finished the action leading in blocked shots (15-11), while the B’s wrapped up Tuesday night leading in hits (15-9) and faceoff win% (61-39).

Both teams had seven giveaways aside, while the Sabres were 0/6 and the Bruins were 0/4 on the power play.

Boston improved to 18-4-3 (9-4-1 on the road) when scoring the game’s first goal, 15-0-2 (7-0-1 on the road) when leading after the first period and 17-0-2 (6-0-0 on the road) when leading after two periods this season.

Buffalo dropped to 5-22-2 (2-14-1 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal, 3-17-0 (1-11-0 at home) when trailing after one period and 1-23-2 (1-14-1 at home) when trailing after the second period in 2020-21.

The Bruins take on the Sabres in Buffalo on Thursday and Friday before venturing to Pittsburgh next week and hosting Buffalo to close out the month of April. Boston is 1-0-0 on their current five-game road trip.

April 21, 2021